Investors view Trump’s Treasury pick as relief for bond market worries

President-elect Donald Trump’s choice of Scott Bessent for Treasury secretary could lift some of the gloom that has pervaded the sagging US government bond market in recent weeks, investors said. Trump on Friday said he had chosen Bessent, a prominent investor, as Treasury secretary, a key cabinet position with vast influence over economic, regulatory and international affairs. The selection comes after days of speculation that weighed on Treasury markets already dogged by worries over a potential rebound in inflation and increase in the federal budget deficit from Trump’s economic plans such as tax cuts and import tariffs. The benchmark US 10-year yield, which moves inversely to bond prices, is hovering near a five-month high following a weeks-long selloff in Treasuries. Uncertainty over who would fill the Treasury role added to the selloff in recent days, investors said.